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Prayer

Prayers begin after you have met a master, because the master awakens in you the prayer power — the power to pray, the power to think, the power to use your own energy to make things come true.

From News 57, Aphorisms
Spoken by Supreme Master Ching Hai
(originally in English)

Q: In addition to our meditation, should we also pray, and in what way?

M: Yes. Anytime you feel the urge to pray, you may do so because at that time you’re sincere and the prayer is your request to God. But then you must meditate afterwards in order to receive the answer. So you can pray, but then meditation is a must. Just like if I’m talking to you, you have to listen for the answer.

From “Meditate to Receive Answers to Your Prayers”
News 161, Selected Questions and Answers
Spoken by Supreme Master Ching Hai
videoconference with disciples in Helsinki, Finland
February 16, 2003
(originally in English)

Glorify God by your own power of meditation and realization. That's the best prayer. That's the best glorification for God, the most significant prayer and the most significant job that you could ever do for God.

From News 57, Pearls of Wisdom
Spoken by Supreme Master Ching Hai
Penang, Malaysia
February 23, 1992
(originally in English)

Q: Is praying meditation?

M: Yes, it’s a kind of meditation. But praying is only one-way meditation. We talk to God: “Oh God, please do this!” But we don’t hear what Hes says. That’s why it’s one-way. Meditation is two-way communication. We offer our pain, our sorrow, our happiness and our gratitude to God. And Hes in turn lets us know what we should do next. We have communication and we have a connection with God. Praying is just the talk of one person; we don’t hear what God says at all. But in meditation, we hear; we know. Hes guides us. Hes brightens our life with thousands of suns inside. Hes makes us shining, loving, wise, humorous and beautiful, inside and out. That’s the difference.

From “The Difference between Prayer and Meditation”
News 139, Selected Questions and Answers
Spoken by Supreme Master Ching Hai
Auckland, New Zealand
April 27, 2000
(originally in English) Videotape No. 686

Q: Is it necessary to pray before doing the meditation?

M: Yes, we can; but it’s not necessary. Meditation is the deepest prayer, through which you get anything you want. Anything that is good for your spiritual and physical well-being will automatically come your way, whether you pray or don’t pray for it. That’s why the life of a Quan Yin practitioner is full of contentment and satisfaction — he wants nothing. The more he practices, the less he wants. The more he practices, the less he prays. Seek you first the Kingdom of God, and all the things shall be added onto you.

From News 56, Selected Questions & Answers
Spoken by Supreme Master Ching Hai
Pang Suan Kaew Hotel, Chiang Mai, Thailand
December 4, 1994
(originally in English)

Q: Master, I don’t pray a lot for myself. Life just happens and I meditate. And if it’s not positive, I meditate more. But I have a question about praying for others. There’re often bad circumstances happening to people we love, or people we don’t know, and we say, “Oh, let’s pray for them.” (M: Yes.)

So I sit down and think, “OK, I’ll pray for them.” But then I think, “But they’re God, and they chose this and they might learn something from it.” Anything I ever perceived as bad that happened to me was a tremendous learning experience. I changed and grew in so many ways. So I can’t say it’s bad. And I think that might be true for them, too. So my question is, how can I use prayer to help people? And what does it sound like?

M: If you feel like praying, then you should just pray automatically. At that time, you can’t help yourself. Because you’re praying not just for them, but also for yourself so that you can bear that situation.

Q: You comfort yourself.

M: Yes, because sometimes you see people suffer so much, you can’t do anything else but pray, “Please, do something, if it’s Your Will.” Or at least you can pray, “Please, whatever happens, let him benefit from it so he can learn and know You better.” But who cares? They will all know Hirm in the end.

Q: I think to pray, and then I think, “Just meditate.”

M: You have to! You have to pray.

Q: I don’t know what to say. Because I think, “Whatever’s happening, they’re going to know more; it’s going to be more of the Path.”

M: Then that’s OK. If you realize that, then don’t pray. But if you have to pray, you can pray. If you don’t want to, don’t pray. It depends on you. If you think God takes care of everything anyway, then you don’t have to pray. But your sympathy is already a prayer. Do you see what I mean?

Q: OK. I do feel all of those feelings. But I’m not sure about making a request. I don’t feel comfortable with that.

M: Yes, you wish somehow that this person didn’t suffer so much and that he didn’t have to go through this. Nevertheless, he has to. You see it, that’s all. Sympathy is also a prayer. Because the moment you think of that person with love and sympathy, you transmit your good thinking. And who is it? It’s God in there. God looks upon the suffering of Hiers own and Hes feels sorry, from Hirmself.

Q: Maybe the best prayer is just “Love, love, love.”

M: Yes, yes. That’s a prayer, yes.

From “Sympathy Is Also A Prayer”
News 137, Selected Questions and Answers
Spoken by Supreme Master Ching Hai
Florida, USA
May 11, 2002
(originally in English)

Q: How can we help our brothers and sisters in war?

M: The best way to help is to get yourself enlightened, and once you’re enlightened, if you have relatives and friends, you can even pray for them better. Because you can tell God what you want. God also knows what you want, but you don’t know God. You don’t know what God wants. That’s the problem. That’s why many prayers are not answered. God answers but we don’t hear because God talks in a subtle language. We have to quiet down in order to receive it. We call this meditation, contemplation or quiet prayer. But we have to open our contact with God first. We have to plug back in, reconnect the telephone. Then we can talk to Hirm, and we can receive the answer. Now God tells us to do one thing, and we do another. Because we aren’t connected, that’s the problem in this world.

We can help by giving our loving thoughts and loving power, but our prayers must be powerful. At the moment, our prayers don’t have power, because we aren’t connected with the power inside. That’s why Jesus didn’t waste His time trying to go around stopping any wars. Buddha didn’t go around trying to make peace between countries. They were busy teaching people to get enlightenment; because they knew that’s the only solution to any problem on this planet, and on any other planet in the universe.

We can help through sincere prayer, but we must be enlightened. We must be connected with this God power first. Then whatever we think will come true, whatever we want will come true. At the moment, we want something but we don’t have anything to back it up. Just like we want to buy a dress, or we want to buy shoes, but we don’t have money in the bank. Have money in the bank first, then anything else you want, you can buy.

From “Get Enlightened and Pray Powerfully!”
News 143, Selected Questions and Answers
Spoken by Supreme Master Ching Hai
Amsterdam, Netherlands
May, 9, 1999
(originally in English) Videotape No. 647

   

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